How am I going to organize this mess? Shop setup.

[Marcus Carr]

Now that the house is built and things are settling down, I finally have time to focus on my shop. Currently, it looks like a bomb went off in there and there is no organization.

The shop is being coverted from a 30x70 house, so space is not a problem. I am tearing out all the interior walls, then I want to get everything organized somehow.

I am curious about how all of you have organized your shops. I need to find a place for tablesaw, router table, planer, jointer, bandsaw, scrollsaw, panel saw, ocillating sander, belt sander, lathe, and a couple drill presses.

I figure the best way would be to put things in some kind of a workflow order. Maybe set it up in stations, like a sanding station with all the sanding tools, and a scrollsaw station. Not sure...

What worked for you? pics please =]

Marcus

[Lee Schierer]

What worked best for me was to make scaled drawings of the various pieces of equipment and layed them out in the space available taking into account the location of fixed objects like doors and windows. I then considered what type of items I generally make and what tools get used. I tried to organize the tools so I could use each one as needed with adequate (or at least as much as I could get) space to use the tool. When it looked good on paper (actually a coputer screen) it worked well in the shop. I used walls for storage and even got my lumber up off the floor and put shelving under the lumber storage. The result was not a perfect shop but one that fit my space and is reasonably suited to my needs. Yes I could use more space.

[Jim Becker]

Organize by function...machining, assembly, finishing, storage. For the first one, consider material movement.

BTW, make sure you know what walls are load-bearing so you don't remove them without making arrangements to transfer the support.

[Joe Trotter]

:eek: 30x70 That is bigger than my barn!

[Greg Stanford]

Before you tear out all the walls, I'd think about what I'd be doing. Some things might be better isolated. Like a finishing room that could be kept dust free. Something I did was to decide on a scale & then cut out of posterboard "tools" to that scale. That way I could move things around on paper & get a feel for what would work best.

g

[Marcus Carr]

I had better think about this a little more before I knock down any more walls. How do I know if a wall is load bearing?...prior to tearing it down.

Marcus

[Keith Beck]

Marcus,

General rule of thumb is: if a wall runs perpendicular to the rafters, it's load-bearing; if it runs parallel to the rafters, it's not. Of course, as with most things, it tends to be more involved than that. Your best bet and safest course of action is to have a structural engineer take a look.

Keith

[Julio Navarro]

Marcus,

General rule of thumb is: if a wall runs perpendicular to the rafters, it's load-bearing; if it runs parallel to the rafters, it's not. Of course, as with most things, it tends to be more involved than that. Your best bet and safest course of action is to have a structural engineer take a look.

Keith
Structural engineer, architect, contractor. anyone who knows about building wood structures.

An engineer or architect would be able to recommend alternative bearing solutions if you definately needed to remove a wall.

The cost of hiring a structural engineer is much less than that of repairing collapsed roofs or worse yet..injury.

Answering your original question: I layed my tools out based on work flow as well as my DC duct runs. I wanted to make sure all my machines where in direct path with minimal bends. I also had to account for the garage overhead door. Cant put any ductwork there.:(

[Garay Holland]

I can only echo what Greg said about separating areas - My wife and I started 20 years ago with a 32x60 "mostly open" shop which had open shelves for supplies storage. We soon found that no matter how good the dust management system we still collected a lot of dust in and around our supply containers. We then enclosed a 6' x 24' area with shelving floor to ceiling and it has worked great ever since.

[Dave Fifield]

I use Corel Draw for my workshop layout games. You can download a trial version that will work long enough for you to do your workshop layout. Set it to metric mode and use a scale of 1mm = 1" in real life and you're set to go.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

That happened to me.

My shop had been used as an auto shop plumbing electrical tiling flooring and framing shop

I just stared by clearing a bench and building storage.
I'm still working on it.

[glenn bradley]

You can find books of stuff on this and I'm sure the Creekers will load you up with their experiences. I organized by type of work; breakdown of large material, initial and final sizing of pieces, dry assembly / final assembly, finishes. A couple things I learned along the way; you'll always need more plain open space than you think (I dumped a second table saw to open up an area). You'll always need about four square feet of flat surface (I use a small rolling table) to set your 'stuff' on while you're working. Have fun!

P.s. I haven't kept up with this so there have been a few changes but basically:

[Marcus Carr]

I did a little research on the truss design of my shop.

With my truss design, 24" spacing on center, 40lb per square foot load rating, and constructed of hemlock/fir I can span a space of 35'8" for low grade wood or 40'0" for select grade wood with no load bearing wall. I will measure the width of the shop again, but I am pretty sure it is 26-30 feet.

Marcus

[glenn bradley]

The occasional pole isn't always a bad thing. they not only hold up the roof but, make good drop-zones for DC ducts and power.

[Dick Bringhurst]

Grizzley has a program you can use for organizing a shop. You draw the outline of the shop (to scale) then place machine otutlines (to scale) in position. You can then move them around for various configurations very easily. There are a set of machine outline you can use in the program or make your own. The program is free on their web site Dick B.

[Mike Wilkins]

Books. Several of them. Go to the local Barnes and Noble or Books A Million and breeze through the woodworking sections. There are several books out that show shop layouts, fixtures, set-ups and tips for these things. No 2 shops are alike, and your set-up will depend on your work habits, your tool inventory, etc.
And remember that most all shops are a continuous work in progress. I have rearranged mine several times over the years, and I still look for ways to make changes and improvements.
Have fun and watch those fingers.

[Robert Mahon]

I believe Jim Becker has it nailed.

Sit down and make a process sheet that considers what you most often do, starting at the machine most often used (the tablesaw is not always the immediate answer if you have a jointer, planer, etc.).

Process the workpiece and position the machines accordingly.

In my 20' X 25' shop I started at the Jointer, followed by the cabinet saw, planer, drum sander, miter saw, router, assembly and finally finishing stations. The bandsaw (for resawing) will be placed in a position that will allow its use without interfering with the most common tasks.

Hand/small power tools (plate joiner, ROS, chisels, belt sander, etc.) are used at the assembly station.

All my machines (except the Cabinet saw) are on wheels within a few feet of each other but placed so I can process bigger stuff with adequate clearance to work without tripping over another piece of equipment (adequate space to move around is high on my list).

However, I have moved the machines around from time-to-time because my method of work changed. Hopefully, I've gotten smarter about this growing hobby.:rolleyes:

[Charles McKinley]

I also recommend the Grizzly program. It is easy to use and FREE! I also recommend leaving at least two of the rooms for finishing and a hand tool area and maybe a seperate sotrage area.